I cannot get myself to polish this one...

The concept of undoing the years required to create this patina has me in a David Abbe frame of mind.

Thoughts?

2

This is just my opinion..

If your going to resell it... Then leave the patina. You knw collectors are suckers for 100 or 200 years of smutz...

When I get a new watch, I take it apart and give it a good COA.. We clean the movements, why not clean the case too.. To me, there is nothing better than a clean, shinny, movement housed in a nice shinny case (coin silver is gorgeous when cleaned)
Just my cent worth. ( I would clean the case

I am in the clean the case and get rid of the grime and oxidation. I have picked up a few nice coin/sterling case because they had a boat load of patina on them, cleaned up they look great.

Two for cleaning, and still on the fence

I agree with the others...love a nice new-looking, shiny case.

shiny is better looking
unless is for sale them is up to the buyer
I shin my cases just like my headKojak

PK1588

I have had silveroid,coin/sterling cases that were black with grime & dirt that I cleaned with Hope's brass polish that turned out to look like new. Hope's is also great on gold filled cases. It has no abrasives or ammonia. I get it at Bed Bath & Beyond for $3.98.

Patina = Dirt


Dirt should never be on or near a watch.

Put me in with the clean crowd.

Look at a Corvette under 40 pounds of poop and another that looks like factory new and tell me why you want the poo. In fine mechanical things beauty begins at the "skin deep" part. Of course cleaning it may not always be this wonderful a thought! In short, "something that looks good, runs good".

If you can make it look like it was well taken care of then some discreet polish is fine. If you have to buff the bejeezus out of it with a power polisher then that is exactly what it will look like.

I'm in the "discrete" camp with Lorne. I never try to clean or refinish coins or antique furniture or antique firearms, everything else is fair game, discretely.

Everything matches except for her shoes... What was she thinking?!

Lorne hit the nail on the head as did Ed. If you have to use a power anything on a case your just eating away at it. A microfiber towel with a small dab of non abrasive cleaner and minimal rubbing...

Ok Jon, balls in your court... Whatcha gonna do?

The contrast of dull patina on low spots and bright on the high from daily or occasional carrying is the best of both worlds IMHO. Giving the watch a look of having a "real life" and functional day to day appearance.

The patina allows the detail of the train and other engraving to show through much better than a polished watch would allow. Polishing the watch will also degrade the crispness of the detail. I'd leave it alone and enjoy it.

If the watch were a plain silver case, I'd polish it. The patina will come back soon enough.

Patina;

The essence of things hoped for in antiquities.

Like blood to an organ....

Mud to a pig....

Coral growing on sunken pirate's bounty....

A substance often imitated but never mastered....

regards,
bb

If you take boiling hot water, add a strip of aluminum foil, set a heavily tarnished silver object in, and add a half a cup or so of baking soda a little at a time and let set a few minutes all the tarnish comes right off without any loss of detail or pitting. What residue is left wipes right off with a dry cloth. You must do this in a sink as a bubbling action will occur that may over run your pan. We remove the crystal bezel if the crystal is intact and the movement of course first. This process does a fantastic job in about 5 to 10 min and a follow up with a very light minimal buffing to take care of the surface scratches and you would be amazed. It also gets all the grime out of the hinges and case springs exceedingly well. There is no loss of detail with this tarnish removal method but it is only to be used on silver and not silver plate.
On one hand I like the look of a tarnished silver watch but on the other hand I know that the tarnish is doing damage to the silver.

Patina = A surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use.

I’m usually in favor of polishing but not in this case. It looks great the way it is.

IMHO,
RR

Ahem ...

Why do we clean the movement, polish the screw heads, blue the hands, soak the dial - but leave the case dull and in a stupor?

What if my Dad never washed either one of his cars?

In my opinion, a 2000 year old sculpture, a WW2 dagger or a 1890 Colt, no touch... a pocket watch? I have never ever heard of one losing value based on the case being polished. Please post info on me being wrong if it exists, I would like to see it.

An interesting topic and I am in the why completely service a watch and leave the case dirty group. On the other hand I have had buyers complain that the watch needed patina. I think gentle hand cleaning is the best way to go. I do not refinish my old shotguns but I do keep them clean. Great discussion! One more note--- Roberts suggestion works fine but remember to use a pyrex pan, not aluminum or copper.

Not knowing jack squat on this (but knowing that I don't know jack, so I've got that going for me), I'd vote for cleaning. I don't like seeing the filigrees and engraving polished away, but I don't see anything wrong with removing the grunge.

I think Deacon and Evan hit the nail on the head . . . cleaning is fine, but don't refinish. I hate to see a watch with a nouveau butler finish resulting from overly aggressive use of a power buffer.